Rep. Vicky Hartzler
Missouri

What climate change means for Missouri

In 2009, there were 1,153 emergency room visits in Missouri due to heat stress.

In Missouri, there were more than 7,700 hospital admissions for asthma in 2011, with an average charge of more than $14,300 for each stay.

In 2011, hazardous weather in Missouri killed 180 and injured 1,897. The total cost due to property and crop damage is estimated at $3.26 billion.

Over the past 10 years, Missouri was affected by more than 15 billion-dollar disasters.

Midwesterners will experience increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events due to climate change, including heat waves, floods, and lake-effect snow. In 2011, 11 of the 14 U.S. weather-related disasters with damages of more than $1 billion occurred in the Midwest. While severe flooding is already an issue in the region—in 2008, floods caused 24 deaths and $8 billion in agricultural losses—likely increases in precipitation in winter and spring and more heavy downpours mean it is expected to become more commonplace. Greater evaporation in the summer is also likely to result in water deficits. Longer and more extreme heat waves will impact human health through reduced air quality and increases in insect and waterborne diseases, and require increased use of electricity for cooling, further increasing carbon pollution. While the longer growing season provides the potential for increased crop yields, increases in heat waves, floods, droughts, insects, and weeds will present growing challenges to managing crops, livestock, and forests.